Exhaust vs power-steering

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Superelbert

Norwegian wood
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Hi guys!

I'm in the process of considering future long-term options for my '71 dart, and one possible avenue of pursuit is of course dropping in a new HEMI.

As my car is a daily (summer) driver and street car, power steering is a must.

Now, after reading arround a bit, I've gathered that the exhaust of a new HEMI wil crash with a power steering box, be it manifold or headers.
That would mean the end of the road for my HEMI plans.

but...

Obviously ,the culprit is the foremost header/manifold exhaust tube. From some of the pictures posted here, I could see that even with a manual box, the clearance was marginal.

Both standard manifolds and headers have this frontmost tube going down and inbetween the engine and steering box.

But what if one welded up a manifold where this tube went up and over the steering box in stead? This tube could then be taken down again further back where a bit more room is available.

hope this makes sense explanation wise..

Could someone who have installed a new HEMI pass some judgement on the feasibility of such a concept?
 
Hi Elbert, greetings from Germany,

why is PS a must? You can change to MS with a better ratio. In my case I use a stock B-Body MS without any probs. But there are many different ratios on the market and you can keep your HEMI dream (we share btw). I already have the 6.1 (not in yet) and my car is a 72 Dart.
 
Greetings from Norwegen! :)

Now, I've never driven a Dart with manual steering, but I had some old japanese 70's cars with manual steering and parking etc was allways a bit of an effort even though these were relatively small and light cars.

My brother had a '73 chevelle malibu with manual steering and that was a right handfull to maneuver at low speeds!

Allthough the stock power steering I have is ridiculously light ( a firm-feel stage 2 box is being considered), I very much enjoy the everyday practicality and convenience this affords me as I like to use the car as a daily driver.

So at the end of the day, I will probably prefer to run a mildly tuned small-block with power-steering as opposed to HEMI performance with no power steering if I have to make the choice.

So you got your self a 6,1?! Wow, congratulations! :) What sort of transmission will you be using?
 
I am interested in this also. Doing the new Hemi swap would be great with all the adapters they now supply but a deal killer is the loss of power steering.

I am going to watch the ideals on this thread.
 
Wow, a 5-speed toyota gearbox?! :)

I'm not laughing, quite the contrary, it is allways refreshing to see some alternative do-it-yourself solutions!

But I'm curious, what was the reason for selecting that transmission, and what will it take to adapt it??
 
Superelbert said:
Wow, a 5-speed toyota gearbox?! :)

I'm not laughing, quite the contrary, it is allways refreshing to see some alternative do-it-yourself solutions!

But I'm curious, what was the reason for selecting that transmission, and what will it take to adapt it??
Click to expand...
just a bellhousing and hydr. clutch master & slave from a Dakota (96 or so), Smallblock clutch & flywheel, custom driveshaft, and some further small stuff....

Reason? Money... ! ;-)
 
Buschi340 said:
just a bellhousing and hydr. clutch master & slave from a Dakota (96 or so), Smallblock clutch & flywheel, custom driveshaft, and some further small stuff....

Reason? Money... ! ;-)
Click to expand...
While your buying...why not Dakota/Durango power rack & pinion ? Lighter, cheaper, faster. Good Luck,ateam.8)
 
You can always put an alterKation setup there. All the room you'll needed you get to keep you ps plus it's a rack and pinion
 
I'm thinking about the Hemi swap also and want to retain power steering like superelbert. I like fuel injection and roller cams and figured the 360 Magnum would be a reasonable alternative. Any header clearance problems there?
 
Buschi340 said:
for that you've got to cut a big hole in the K-Member. But I have it in my mind. And getting rid of the torsion bars too... :)
Click to expand...

Not that big a hole really. A guy installed a manual Dakota rack and the hole was only big enough to pass the steering shaft. And thats because he chose to mount the rack in front.Had to flip the balljoints from back to front as wel,but apparantly the car drives just fine. He did lose some turning radius.
 
needsaresto said:
Not that big a hole really. A guy installed a manual Dakota rack and the hole was only big enough to pass the steering shaft. And thats because he chose to mount the rack in front.Had to flip the balljoints from back to front as wel,but apparantly the car drives just fine. He did lose some turning radius.
Click to expand...
really? I saw a guy at moparts years ago as I had that idea first time and the hole was big in my eyes. Or a bad picture. He did it the same way. Maybe he is the one from moparts? :)
Anyway, do you have pictures of that swap? It looked easy to do, maybe possible with a donor car from here.

1970Duster, this won't change anything except blocking the car for years... ;-)
 
Buschi,

Sounds like you have that transmission thing figured out nicely in terms of what parts to use!

But apart from the modification of the driveshaft, which is obviously required, what other modifications and adaptions do you need to do in order to get everything to bolt together?
 
I've heard the toyo trannie can withstand up to 1000 h.p! Is this even close to true?
 
Buschi340 said:
never. I'd say / guess max 500HP. I know a 800 HP / 800 torque combo. But I don't know if the internals are improved.
stock specs of the Toyota are 325HP/325lb/ft....
Click to expand...
A very rough comparison, for modern/aluminum case 5 spds, is strength vs weight. The R154/turbo Supra 5 spd.weighs 100 lbs. w/o bh. T5 = 75lbs and Tremec 5 spd. listed at 113 lbs.(does'nt mention bh. My R154 is going against a na. 6.1L on E85. We shall see. The 183" T Supra motor will hold about 5.5hp. per in.,(sturdy).ateam:dontknow:
 
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